Monday, August 24, 2009

Time to setup my queen castle

Came out this Friday to find hive #4 covered in bees. Sure it was hot outside, but there was just an inordinate number of bees compared to all the other hives. Since I needed to refill the feeder I opened up the hive and sure enough I found over 8 sealed queen cells. (Below is a picture of an empty queen cell from earlier in the season.)
empty honey bee queen cell

Perfect opportunity to try out my queen castle from Brushy Mountain. All four bays are now filled with a frame of brood and a queen cell or two along with a division feeder. Now I wait and in two-three weeks I should find four matted queen bees.

I wasn't able to find the queen in hive #4 so I'm not sure if she's dead or left with a swarm. I'm not too worried as the main hive still has a few queen cells. We'll have to wait and see how this all turns out.

deep hive body covered in honey beeshive top covered in honey bees